Subaru8MySox

Tonight I made a yellow cake with chocolate icing. It was my birthday, and I like making this cake; it’s the same kind of cake my mom would make every year for me as a kid. It’s easy, just boxed mix and canned icing. It’s comfort, nostalgia, but it never quite tasted the same.

Well tonight I made a few changes based off of a recipe I had seen going around, and wouldn’t you know it, the cake came out tasting exactly like my momma’s. So much so that it brought tears to my eyes when I took the first bite. There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t miss her, and the longer she’s gone the sweeter the feeling is when I find her memory again.

In honor of that, here’s what I did:

Preheat oven to 315 Fahrenheit (yes. I know that’s low. Trust me) while you’re preparing the ingredients.

Of course it helps if your wet ingredients are at room temperature, but if they aren’t you’ll live.

Using a yellow cake mix (we use Duncan Hines), ignore the ingredients list on the back and use

4 eggs

1 stick of melted butter

1 cup of milk

splash of vanilla extract.

Mix as normal. Pour into a 9x11 baking pan. Bake at 315 for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool completely. When cooled, melt chocolate icing in microwave at 15 second intervals until pourable (not hot, just enough to pour over cake). Pour can over cake and use a knife to spread evenly. Pop it in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Cooking Jam  -  Teija Lehto, 2016

Finnish,b.1965-

netflix is making a hockey show called "the sticks" that is based on a very real tragedy that occured in canada in 2018.

the show follows a minnesota high school team after their bus crashes and coming back to hockey afterwards.

in 2018, the humboldt broncos' (a junior A team made up of 18-22 year olds) bus was hit by a tractor trailer on a highway intersection. 16 people (10 players, 2 coaches, and 4 team staff members) were killed, along with 13 other players severely injured.

the memory of the humboldt broncos crash is an incredibly sensitive subject carrying a lot of trauma to both the survivors, their families, and deceased's families. the trajectory of hockey in canada was changed significantly after this tragedy.

despite this, netflix has decided to make a show using the death of young hockey players for profit. they did not consult the survivors, nor the deceased's families. they stole a canadian story for a feel-good cash grab.

None of the families even knew about this show until the media started asking how they felt.

It is taking a tragedy and turning it into a cash cow.

This was such a deeply-felt issue that even the truck driver pleaded guilty and has tried to make amends. (And as he is facing deportation after his sentence, some of the families have even started supporting him being allowed to stay in the country.) There is a real story you could be telling about community and resilience that is not just turning one of the worst days for THE NATION into cheap thrills and sensationalism.

It makes me wonder, based on the "your new hockey obsession" comment - is this their response to Heated Rivalry?

Do they not realize that what made everyone love Heated Rivalry was the gay romance, not the hockey? Like, dont get me wrong, hockey is great, and it was certainly a major and important part of the story, but... Heated Rivalry was a hit because of Shane and Ilya and their romance story (and the hot sex, lets be real). People were not in it for the hockey.

I bought a small handful of needle types, and dug through various advice threads and watched various video tutorials geared toward people who already crochet coming to the craft...

I... Mad respect to knitters. Knitting makes me want to cry lol. I sincerely cannot figure out for the life of me how to get my Tension right. I decided to take the advice that I try continental knitting, as how the yarn is held is similar-ish to how one holds yarn while crocheting. After going through a dozen tutorials on how to simply cast on and finally getting that to click I got all excited. Casting on is delightful.

And then I tried to learn knit and purl stitches and I swear I'm gonna end up on the news. I'm terrible at this. I can't seem to make the advice out there about tension work for me. I can't figure out how to keep my work from sliding off the needles, all my stitches are either way too tight or far too loosey goosey. I spend 40 minutes and get two rows of 15 stitches that look like they were constructed by a drunk maniac for my trouble.

I'm not ready to give up entirely, I know I can master this, but I think I need a hands on teacher. Which is a little nerve wracking for me. I must go to the LYS.

I pay a Lil annual membership fee so I can hang out there whenever I like or attend workshops there, which I had not intended to attend initially, I just wanted to support my store in an ever insanely shitty economy. I'm one of the few crocheters who frequent the store (and the only customer, according to the owner, who favors cotton yarn which they don't stock) and all the workshops are for knitting.

But the idea of popping in and being like hi yes hello can you help me figure out knitting I'm terrible at this has me so socially anxious. I'm very new to the store, and these ladies are 20 to 30 years older than me and we'll established with each other. The owner is the only one I've ever interacted with, and she's amazing and she's super encouraging though I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm an insane idiot buying up weird amounts of malibrigo without worrying about dye lot numbers and what might appear to be criminal color combos.

Her: what are you making?

Me: *putting 9 skeins of ultimate sock on the counter in two different variegated colorways and 3 solids* a cardigan

Her: this is a lot of yarn are you doing more than one?

Me: nope. Crochet needs so much yarn. Like. So much.

Her: *horrified look of skepticism*

She's great. She wants me to come hang out. But I feel like a Canada goose waddling in to hang out with the swans lol. I haven't had any kind of community to get involved with when it comes to fiber arts before and I am not diagnosed with Autism but Somethin' Ain't Right. I feel like I never know how I'm supposed to act around people and overthink it. I have gone shopping with my wife at this store, we are visibly sapphic to the world at large, and the owner is extremely inclusive and welcoming.

And yet, I'm nervous as hell about this but I'm also a grown ass adult. I will be fine. But something about approaching a bunch of seasoned knitters in their long time gathering place is intimidating.

--

Ahaha. Oh no!

In person is definitely the best way. I learned from a booklet of line drawings, and it sucked.

If your stitches slide right off, you need a grippier needle, and if you use cotton as a beginner, your tension will look like heinous trash. It's a good learning tool because you can see what you did. It is also demoralizing because it looks like hot garbage.

On the bright side, most knitters haaaaaaaate casting on. That's far and away the worst part of any project.

These ladies are at the point in their lives where they have no more fucks to give, in all the good ways. They see a younger person who wants to hang out with them and do their thing? They are going to be all over that. You will be knitting up a storm with their help!

Don't threaten to do it, go research it, and actually give it a go!!! Most of the books for old crafts are out of copyright. Even if you don't get a job at whatever you try, or hell, even of you don't become in any way good at it, just learning and trying something new is good for you, and it gives you a greater understanding and appreciation for things.